


step by step

by orphan_account



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, Growing Up Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-06 23:34:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16397222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: If there’s one thing Soonyoung’s looking for in Wonwoo’s future, it’s himself.





	step by step

**Author's Note:**

> hello ao3verse... this is my first fic!
> 
> pls beware that this is super self-indulgent and i planned and wrote this in one day, so if you ever catch errors or would like to provide constructive criticism, you can pop it down in the comments and they’ll be highly appreciated! thank you and enjoy <3

__

At seven, Soonyoung asks Wonwoo what he wants to be when he grows up.

“Um, I really don’t know. My dad’s a doctor and my mom’s a businesswoman, which are two completely different things,” Wonwoo replies. He’s sitting across Soonyoung in the canteen, who got a little too bored-hungry while waiting for his mom to pick him up and bought a tetra-size cup of cheese fries.

“What do you like though?” Soonyoung asks, with cheese-coated soggy fries stuffing his mouth and fingers.

“I like reading.”

“What do you read?”

“I like Geronimo Stilton.”

“ _Loooooser_ ,” Soonyoung draws out.

“Bully,” Wonwoo bites back. “You like maths. You’re the bigger L-O-S-E-R, Soonyoungie.”

“Maths is so easy,” Soonyoung says, licking his fingers covered in cheese powder. “It’s just counting, and my sister has letters in her maths worksheets. It looks horrible, but still cool.”

“Loser,” Wonwoo says under his breath, opening his trolley bag to pull out a brand new Geronimo Stilton book.

“Yeah, whatever.” Soonyoung replies, standing up to buy more cheese fries.

Later that day, Soonyoung calls up Wonwoo to play video games in his house. And as much as Wonwoo wants to curl up and read the books he just bought from the book fair at school, he agrees.

-

At eleven, Soonyoung asks Wonwoo wants to take up in university.

“Soonyoungie, we’re entering junior high school, not senior high,” is Wonwoo’s initial reply. They’re in line for their graduation processional, and they’re both squirming in their gala uniforms and expensive leather shoes. Graduating grade school sounds so bittersweet until it actually happens to you, and then it’s just bitter. All-boys schools are the worst, down to the extreme amounts of sweat produced.

“Yeah, but you’re so tall now and we aren’t graduating again in the next four years, we might as well pretend,” Soonyoung points out. It is true; Wonwoo now stands taller than most of the senior high boys they pass by, and he’s only about to enter 7th grade. Soonyoung himself isn’t that far from Wonwoo’s height, but it’s still kind of insulting when they were the same height when they first met.

Wonwoo sighs at that. “Okay, I want to take up literature. I’ve actually been searching coursesー”

“Ha! See, I’m not the only one who’s thinking about college. I mean, you’re valedictorian, what did we expー”

“Yeah, whatever, but I wanna take up comparative literature, whatever it means exactly. It sounds cool.” Wonwoo finishes. “Let’s make this even. You, what do you want to take?” he shoots back.

Soonyoung beams. “Business administration and accountancy. It’s what my sister applied for. We’re still waiting for the results, but she’s smart so she’ll probably get in.”

And after the most boring graduation ceremony ever (aside from Wonwoo’s valedictorian speech), Soonyoung and Wonwoo run down the winding gym ramp and toss coins together into a statue of Mary, in lieu of a fountain, and silently wish for their future plans to turn into reality.

-

At fifteen, Soonyoung asks what track Wonwoo plans on taking in senior high school.

“I’m taking up the humanities track,” Wonwoo replies, looking up at Soonyoung through his signature gold-rimmed glasses. Somewhere between 7th and 8th grade, Wonwoo needed glasses, and all it did was give Soonyoung more reasons to poke at him.

Soonyoung gives him a confused look. “Really? You look like you’d take the science or business one. Well, it’s probably the glasses that made you a hipster.” There it is, one of his bullying antics.

“First of all, fuck off. Second, people aren’t always what they seem. People probably think you’re gonna take up dance, but you’re actually taking the business track,” Wonwoo snaps, slightly disappointed that his best friend of nine years and the love of his life didn’t remember his life choices and _fuck_ Wonwoo should probably stop this train of thought and dismantle its tracks right after.

“I’m surprised you still remember that,” comes Soonyoung’s reply. “We were like, eleven? Or ten?”

“We were eleven, you told me that during our 6th grade graduation. Also, it was only 4 years ago Soonyoungie, we aren’t as old as you think.”

“Junior high school mentally aged everyone another twenty years, Won-ah. All the performance tasks made each passing year feel like 5 years to me.”

“Not me, I’m ageless,” Wonwoo says flippantly. “I’m so smart and hot, the pains of high school haven’t gotten to me.”

“God, Won-ah, wait until people see you on the dance floor and we’ll talk about that,” Soonyoung retorts.

“I’m made of sticks, not water, Soonyoungie. Speaking of dance, what tracks are the other dance team members taking?” Wonwoo asks, in a somewhat desperate attempt to change the subject of their conversation.

Thankfully, Soonyoung doesn’t suspect anything. “Oh, surprisingly none of us tenth graders in Air Force are taking dance professionally. Junnie’s taking the science track, I think, and Ten’s taking business too.”

“How about Minghao-yah? He’s the most passionate dancer I know, I’d guess that there’d be a 90% he’d pursue dance as a profession.”

“He’s only in ninth grade, Won-ah. Besides, it’s not like we have a track for dance anyway, because these Catholic brothers decided that art was too feminine or something outdated like that and decided that they won’t offer the art track,” Soonyoung finishes a little bitterly.

“Yeah, it sucks,” Wonwoo says, and thinks about how he can’t be classmates with Soonyoung anymore because of their tracks. “It also sucks that we won’t be classmates anymore.” he says before his mind can stop him but, well. There it goes.

“About time, Wonwoo Jeon. I’m sick of seeing your face almost everyday, I’m so thankful I was blessed with mathematical prowess so I could enter accountancy.”

“Fuck off, Soonyoung Kwon. Who’s the valedictorian here?”

That night, Soonyoung ticks the _Accountancy and Business Management_ box on his senior high school form a little sadly, and Wonwoo thinks about Soonyoung, senior high school, and the rest of his life in a devilish cycle.

-

At sixteen, at around 3am in Wonwoo’s bed, Soonyoung asks Wonwoo what he envisions the rest of his life to be like.

“We just finished eleventh grade, Soonyoungie, it’s too early for this.” is Wonwoo’s immediate retort. Soonyoung just tells him to shut up and answer the question.

But in reality, Wonwoo has thought about this question a little too much. Maybe he’d be a writer or a literary critic, living in a penthouse with a 360 degree view of the city and a cat and _maybe_ Soonyoung. Preferably, a Soonyoung that wakes up beside him every day with his puffy cheeks and scrunched-up nose. He doesn’t tell Soonyoung that last part.

“For me,” Soonyoung begins dramatically. Wonwoo’s room is dark and silent, save for the distinctly summer sound of chirping cicadas and moonlight seeping through his windows and blinds. “I want to be a CEO or something like that. Or a corporate lawyer, maybe, if the world thinks I’m smart enough for that. But Wonwoo-yah, wherever I end up, it’s worthless if I’m not beside you then.”

Wonwoo exhales a breath he didn’t even know he was holding. “Sooー”

“I’m not finished,” Soonyoung cuts him off. “Every time I asked about your future, I always hoped silently that I would be there somewhere, because you sure as hell were in mine,” he says, in between sniffs. Fuck, he’s starting to cry. “And even though I told you thank god I’m good at maths so I wouldn’t have to see your face everyday in senior high when we were in tenth grade, I do want to see your face everyday, with or without glasses, smiling or frowning, and any other variation of it. Wonwoo Jeon, dumbass extraordinaire, I love you so, so much.”

And when Wonwoo wakes up at noon that day, he sees the same puffy cheeks and scrunched-up nose he’s dreamed of waking up next to for years.

-

At seventeen, Soonyoung asks Wonwoo what his death wish is.

“Shit, Soonyoungie. My death wish is not passing this university,” comes Wonwoo’s reply this time. “But if I had one wish before I died, it’d be to kiss you. Like, a lot.”

“Won-ah, calm down. You graduated valedictorian from one of the few all-boys schools in the metro, and you’re still shitting your pants over this? If anything, I should be the one shitting my pants, and honestly at most I’m just peeing in them. We both passed the other big 4 universities, it’s not like you’re gonna be held back a year for this.”

“First things first, Soonyoungie, you brought up the idea of a death wish. Secondly, youーahーoh shit! The university site is up! Fuck, shit Soonyoungieー”

Soonyoung cuts him off with a kiss, and a slap right after. “Calm down, Won-ah. Let’s find J, J, ah, there.”

**J**

JEON, WONWOO - BA COMPARATIVE LITERATURE

**K**

KWON, SOONYOUNG - BS BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION & ACCOUNTANCY (5 YRS)

  
“Won-ah, Wonwoo-yah, earth to Wonwoo Jeon,” Soonyoung says, slightly shaken himself.

“Soonyoungie, we’re spending our lives together. This is it ー all the futures we’ve wanted, babe, look,” Wonwoo says, pointing towards his laptop screen. “Every single what are you taking? you’ve asked me has all lead to this moment, and every other moment to come at us. Soonyoung Kwon, in our one year of dating, this has been our most important milestone.”

“You’re so fucking dramatic, you know that?” Soonyoung cups Wonwoo’s face in his hands and puts their heads together. “God, I’m so excited to spend my life with you, loserーah shit that sounds like we’re getting marriedー”

“Get to the point already, Soonyoungie, for fuck’s sake.”

And Soonyoung tiptoes to kiss Wonwoo, warm and soft and long. Wonwoo is the first to pull away for air, at which the other boy whines at.

“You have all the time to kiss me in the future.”

“But what if a meteor strikes the earth to wipe out humanity and our future?”

“Then, you could kiss me all you want now.”

And that night, Soonyoung holds Wonwoo in his arms to his heart’s content, even if there aren’t any reported sightings of a humanity-erasing meteor.

**Author's Note:**

> if u made it this far, thank you!!! a lot!!! this is my very first fic that’s come to fruition, and as bad as it may be, i’m quite proud of it, haha.
> 
> inspired by [ this fic](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15851337), i wanted to do a school fic in a non-american/korean school setting! believe me, even though i thought it’d make the setting easier to write, i attend an all-girls’ school, so i have no idea what teenage boys are doing nowadays. for this purpose, i largely based this off of my brothers’ school, oops.


End file.
